Chen Yinke, or Chen Yinque (Chinese: 陳寅恪; 3 July 1890 – 7 October 1969), was a Chinese historian, scholar, and fellow of Academia Sinica, considered one of the most original and creative historians in 20th century China. His representative works are Draft essays on the origins of Sui and Tang institutions (隋唐制度淵源略論稿), Draft outline of Tang political history (唐代政治史述論稿), and An Alternative Biography of Liu Rushi (柳如是別傳).[1]

As a boy, Chen Yinke attended a private school in Nanjing, and was once a student of Wang Bohang [zh], a sinologist. His family had a distinguished tradition in classical learning, so he was exposed from an early age to the Chinese classics, to history, and to philosophy. In 1902 he went to Japan with his elder brother Chen Hengke to study at the Kobun Gakuin [zh] (Kobun Institute) in Tokyo, where other Chinese students such as Lu Xun were also enrolled. In 1905 he was forced to return to China due to beriberi, and studied at Fudan Public School, Shanghai.

In 1939, Oxford University offered him a professorship in Chinese History. He left for Hong Kong in September 1940 on his way to United Kingdom, but was forced to return Kunming due to ongoing battles. In 1941 he became a guest professor with Hong Kong University to teach history of Sui Dynasty and Tang Dynasty. Since the Japanese occupation in Hong Kong began in the end of 1941, he conducted history research at home, which resulted in the writing of A Brief Introduction to the Political History of Tang Dynasty. In July 1942, Chen fled to Guilin to teach in Guangxi University, later in December 1943 he moved to Chengdu to teach in Yenching University. He became employed by Tsinghua University for a second time in 1946.

He began to teach at Lingnan University, Guangzhou in late 1948. As a result of a nationwide restructure campaign across universities and colleges, Lingnan University was merged into Zhongshan University in 1952. Chen Yinke taught courses on history of Jin Dynasty and Southern and Northern Dynasties, history of Tang Dynasty, and yuefu of Tang Dynasty. In 1953 he started writing Biography of Liu Rushi, an in-depth investigation of the poetry and activities of Liu Rushi, a famous prostitute in late Ming Dynasty and early Qing Dynasty. He finished this last major work in 1964, by then having become completely blind. He became vice president of Central Research Institute of Culture and History in July 1960.

Chen was persecuted during the Cultural Revolution due to his previous connection with the out-of-favor Tao Zhu. He and his wife's salaries were frozen by the Red Guards. Several times he was forced to write statements to clarify his political standings: "I have never done anything harmful to Chinese people in my life. I have been a teacher for 40 years, only doing teaching and writing, but nothing practical (for Kuomintang)". Many of his book collections and manuscripts were stolen.

He died in Guangzhou on 7 October 1969 for heart failure and sudden bowel obstruction. 11 days later his obituary was published by the Southern Daily. The bone ashes of Chen and his wife was stored at Yinhe Revolutionary Cemetery at first, but moved to Lushan Botanical Garden in 2003. Now they are buried near the tomb of Chen Fenghuai.

The Monument of Wang Guowei, text written by Chen Yinke including "thoughts of freedom, spirits of independence"

In the 1920s, Chen Yinke insisted that research should be of "thoughts of freedom, spirits of independence". In 1953 he was designated as head of the Second Department of Insititute of History Study in Chinese Academy of Sciences. He demanded two requests to be granted, in his "Reply to the Chinese Academy of Sciences" on 1 December. The first one was "the Institute of Mid-Ancient Chinese History be exempt from the doctrines of Marxism, as well as attending politics lectures"; The second one was "a letter of approval from Mao Zedong or Liu Shaoqi, as a shield". He explained that "Mao, the top political authority, and Liu, the top party leader, should have consensus with me on the matter, otherwise academic research would be out of the question."[2] He did not assume the position eventually, continuing working at Zhongshan University. The incident was not disclosed to the public until the 1980s.